Techniques of Futuring: emerging media and transformative climate and biodiversity futures

As we confront converging challenges of the Anthropocene, our collective capacities to envision and navigate transformative pathways towards sustainability is paramount.

Emergent media technologies such as generative AI and immersive storytelling are giving rise to a new frontier in human communication and learning, likely to profoundly affect how people communicate, engage in communities, perceive the world and imagine our common futures.

This project aims to investigate the potentials and complex challenges in the use of emergent media technologies as “techniques of futuring” in sustainability sciences, policy and practice.

Employing a mixed-methods approach, combining case studies, participatory workshops, and prototype development, we will,Systematically map innovative ‘techniques of futuring’ that leverage emerging media technologies analyzing their context, objectives and implementationsCritically examine how they give rise to diverse visions of the future and how they influence collective action and decision-making processes.

Co-create and evaluate a cutting-edge emergent media approach to scenario building and visioning together with pioneers from AfroFuturism, Indigenous Futures, Worldbuilding, Speculative FictionThe project will contribute with new methods and theory on how emergent media relates to broader social-ecological transformations and how it affects transformative learning and imaginative capacities of policy makers, scientists and practitioners.